Meadow moth - a butterfly of a nondescript appearance with huge harmful potential

It would seem that the meadow moth, in accordance with the name, should flit on the lawns and meadows. But no, his natural spaces do not attract him. The insect tries to stay close to agricultural land and occupies plantations of sunflower, sugar beets, legumes, cereals, vegetables, and melons. Multivariety, rapid reproduction, long-distance migrations and cyclical outbreaks of increased population growth put the meadow moth on the podium of the most dangerous and insidious pests of fields and gardens.

What a meadow moth looks like

The meadow moth is a typical representative of the family of fireworms. The habitat covers almost the entire forest-steppe strip of the post-Soviet space. The most favorable regions for development with a temperate warm climate, where rainfall is stable.

Appearance

The description of the meadow moth has much in common with the relatives of the moths:

• nondescript color of light brown or yellow shades;
• wingspan from 17 to 27 mm, when folded, they represent the shape of a triangle;
• front wings of gray-brown tones with a yellow pattern;
• darker hind wings bordered by parallel stripes;
• forehead with a conical protrusion;
• thin filiform tendrils in females and serrated in males.

In butterflies, the meadow moth has sexual dimorphism. Females are larger than males and are distinguished by a thick abdomen. In the latter, the body is thinner and longer, with pressure on the abdomen, a hair brush appears at the end, while in the female, it looks like a fan.

The length of the eggs does not exceed 1 mm. The form is elongated. Color yellowish with mother of pearl.
Hatching larva transparent yellow or greenish tint. As you grow older, the color becomes more saturated and almost black. The adult caterpillar of the meadow moth grows to 3.5 cm. On the back you can distinguish two stripes, and on the sides are oblong shiny lines. 8 pairs of legs provide the larva with good mobility.

The length of the pupa is 12 m. The color is light brown; on the eve of the butterfly, it turns gray. The cocoon is usually found in the soil and is covered with lumps of dirt. On the upper part there is a special hole, slightly tightened by a web, from which a young moth will fly out.

Subtleties of life

In the photo, the meadow moth is a dear creature, looking at which the thought does not even come that it is a malicious pest and a thunderstorm of landowners. In principle, it is not the butterfly itself that harms, but its offspring. But first things first. Insects winter in the caterpillar stage in a cocoon, which reliably protects them from the negative effects of the external environment.

On a note! Wintering larvae are very resistant to low temperatures and maintain their vital activity at minus 30 ° С. However, in the spring, they become susceptible to even minor frosts that can destroy them.

Survivors of the winter pupate. The years of the first generation meadow moths begin in late April. In the northern regions, the time of departure of butterflies is observed in early June.Insects are active during twilight and night hours. Daytime is spent in the grass, under the foliage. Meadow moths are very shy. At the slightest rustle, they show a sense of anxiety and break away.

To reproduce offspring, females need food. The forage base for them is nectar. But there is another nuance that affects the development of the population. If during the life of the meadow moth caterpillar there was not enough fluid in the diet, then the female can be infertile or give small offspring. Drought can cause insects to migrate.

In search of food supply or moisture, meadow moths cover long distances. Such migrations are called active. But there are also passive migrations when moths move through air masses. The migratory ability of butterflies reaches 300-900 km.

The nuances of reproduction

Under concomitant optimal conditions: the presence of food, moisture, temperature from 20 ° C, mature individuals begin mating. As a rule, egg laying starts 5-7 days after the butterfly leaves the cocoon. The female lays eggs on the inner side of the leaves, on weeds, stems, less often on dry residues or soil, 5-20 pieces each, laying them on top of each other, like tiles. The procrastination process lasts 1-2 weeks.

The fertility of the female meadow moth reaches 600 eggs and is determined by the quality of the diet of the caterpillar. It has been noticed that under the same meteorological conditions, those individuals that ate beets turn out to be more prolific.

At a temperature of 27 ° C and a humidity of 75%, embryonic development lasts from 2 to 15 days. In hot weather, when the thermometer is above 30 ° C and the humidity does not exceed 45%, almost half of the eggs die. A young larva of the first age eats leaf tissues from the lower side, forming peculiar “windows” on them.

Young individuals of the first age do not touch the cereal crops. If some caterpillar is seduced by corn, then this will lead to its death. Older individuals, starting from the third age, consume cereals without harm to their health and these crops no longer pose a threat to life.

Adult caterpillars unceremoniously eat various crops, the list of which includes 200 different species of vegetation. After their invasion, skeletonized leaves with visible veins and braided by cobwebs remain. With massive invasions, cuttings are also eaten. Root crops, shoots, fruits are damaged.

The development and life of a meadow moth caterpillar depends on many factors. For larvae of the first ages, moisture is very important, at an older age, the need for nutrition increases. Larvae are characterized by mobility. In search of food supply, they easily overcome 50 meters; in forced situations, they migrate to longer distances.

The feeding of the larvae lasts about 15-30 days. Then they burrow into the ground, weave a cocoon and pupate. After 14-0 days, new butterflies appear, ready to mate and increase the population. From 1 to 4 generations of generations are possible per year. Larvae of the last generation go to the ground for wintering.

Malware

Prim mass resettlement is caused by both adults and caterpillars. Numerous flocks of meadow moths become competitors to honey bees, which no beekeeper can rejoice at. The amount of honey in the hives is significantly reduced.

Caterpillars of the first generation eat up weeds along roadsides, in beams, in forest belts. The voracious larvae of the second generation of the meadow moth infect sunflower, alfalfa, buckwheat, sugar beets and other agricultural and forest crops. Depending on the amount of the pest, the yield may be reduced by 50%, or even be destroyed.

On a note! The threshold of harmfulness of the meadow moth on sunflower is 10 caterpillars per 1 square. m in the seedling phase of up to 6 leaves. During flowering, the rate increases to 20 caterpillars per square. mA similar threshold of harmfulness is also characteristic of sugar beets. Only the flowering, but the closing of the leaves, is taken into account.

Larvae with indefatigable appetite destroy all the vegetation in its path. In terms of their voracity, they are not inferior to locusts. It is also noteworthy that, like the latter, the meadow moth is characterized by an outbreak of mass reproduction, which occurs cyclically with an interval of 10-12 years. It has not yet been possible to unravel the causes of this phenomenon. It is possible that one of the main factors is climatic conditions, mass migrations of the meadow moth, and solar activity. Interestingly, the ability to migrate helps butterflies to avoid natural enemies and parasitic individuals.

How to deal with a moth

Pest control is complicated by the potential for meadow moth migrations. On farmland, the numbers and emergence of butterflies and caterpillars are regularly monitored. Measures to combat the meadow moth are taken even before the mass resettlement of insects.

The following activities are carried out:

• To destroy wintering caterpillars in early spring, a deep digging of the soil is carried out.
• Timely weed removal that the meadow moth uses as an intermediate feed.
• Regular hilling of plants, digging aisles, as well as loosening of the soil.
• In household plots manual collection of tracks is possible.

The meadow moth has many natural enemies that contribute to pest control. These include ground beetles, riders, birds, ladybugs.

During the period of oviposition with an interval of 5-7 days, trichograms are released. Of the biological products, Lepidocide and Bitoxibacillin have proven themselves well.

The chemical means against the meadow moth give the greatest effect with respect to caterpillars of the first ages. Adults become resistant to insecticides. Spraying drugs over large areas is carried out by air or ground transport. Apply "Decis", "Fufanon", "Phosphamide", "Karbofos".